A-level exams 'may be recalibrated'

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Isabel Nisbet, acting chief executive of the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual), said the agency could consider looking at "recalibrating" the exams - known as the "gold standard" qualification, if required to.

Speaking after a Guild of Educators seminar on standards in central London, Ms Nisbet said: "If the consensus was the A grade was wider than it should be, the regulator could look at the question of redefining the level of attainment that you need for an A grade to be higher."

She added: "Personally I think we should be thinking 'what's the most valued way of showing the attainment?'"

Ms Nisbet said that any recalibration would need to be done in a way that was fair to students who took exams both before and after the process was carried out.

She added: "The A grade or the C grade is an attempt to reflect a level of achievement that through education, learning and teaching, more and more people are achieving."

The Government is proposing to review the future of A-levels in 2013.

Ms Nisbet said she hoped Ofqual would be "part of the debate" if ministers proceed with the review.

A debate about the "dumbing down" of A-levels rages every year, with critics claiming the exams have become easier.

Supporters of the qualification say that standards have not fallen, and that the education and experience of students has changed.